Between Chapters 30 and 31
by bahjcb
Summary: The continuing story of “Either This Or.” Definitely lots of Dasey.
1. College Roommates

_A/N: It's not really a story, but a lot of moments (one-shots) that help fill in the time between chapters 30 & 31 of "Either This Or." I hope you all enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed writing them._

_Oh, all information on University of Toronto dorms __**and Sports Teams**__ was taken right from their website. Go Varsity Blues!_

_Disclaimer: Still don't own squat—unfortunately!_

* * *

Derek really shouldn't have been surprised that Casey read every inch of the information their housing complexes had sent them on moving in and that she had created a plan of action to help coincide with what they said to do. As Derek's hall was a little less anal on the move-in procedure than Casey's (another non-surprise), the McDonald-Venturi family decided to move Casey in first.

"Okay," Casey said as they pulled up to the loading and unloading area. "I'm going to go in and get started on the registration procedures…"

"It's going to take her awhile. There are six checkpoints of fun," Derek interrupted with a smirk.

"Der-ek! Not today!" Casey growled. "I need you to check out a moving cart for my luggage while I'm in there."

"I know," Derek interrupted once again. They'd been going over Casey's plan of action for almost week now. "I know your room number and I've got my ID on me."

"Okay."

"Do you have your ID and your 'Residence acceptance documentation'?"

After a panicked look through her purse, Casey nodded. Giving her a quick kiss, Derek shoved her out of the car.

"Hurry, before the lines get too long. We can only check out the cart for half an hour."

"Right!" Casey agreed before scurrying away.

As they drove around to the back of the building to check out the moving cart, Edwin said, "I don't get it. Casey dragged you to all those orientation meetings _your_ dorms had this summer, but you just walk in and get a key and she has to go through six checkpoints of registration."

"Casey's has the best security," Lizzie replied for Derek. "Dad insisted on it."

"Yeah, and it's too bad because we could have shared a building."

"Men and women are on different floors," Lizzie argued.

"It would still make it easier for me to drop in. I have to sign in every time I want to visit her here," Derek replied.

"Smerek," Marti finally said, "Are you _sure_ you and Casey have to go to college?"

"I'm sure, Smarti. But, we'll only be a phone call away. And we'll be back for Thanksgiving in October."

"Don't forget that every two or three weekends, Derek will come home with his dirty laundry," Lizzie teased with a smirk.

Parking the Prince, Derek turned around to face the backseat with an answering smirk. "Keep it up, Liz, and people will think you were born a Venturi."

* * *

"Where's Casey?" Nora asked as she and George parked next to their waiting children.

With the amount of luggage and people going to Toronto, they took two separate cars. Most of the luggage, however, was packed into George and Nora's car as all the younger kids wanted to spend as much time with their older siblings as they could before they had to return home—despite the fact that Casey spent most of their trip panicking.

"Probably at checkpoint three," Derek smirked. "Let's get Casey's stuff on the moving cart. The chick that checked this out to me…"

"She threatened to hunt Smerek down if he didn't bring the cart back by the thirty minute mark," Marti happily informed the parents.

Edwin, wide-eyed, added, "She sure was cranky for nine o'clock in the morning. I'd hate to see her later today."

* * *

Casey was surprised to reach the hall outside her assigned suite and not find her family waiting for her as this was their previously agreed upon rendezvous. Deciding that while she was waiting for them she would pick which room she wanted to stay in, Casey entered the suite to find Edwin and Lizzie lounging on the couch, Nora and Marti putting up her cookware, and Derek and George nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, hi, Casey," Lizzie said. "Your roommate, Angela, she let us in. George is taking the moving cart back and Derek's setting up your computer."

"Down the hall and to your left," Nora said, answering Casey's unasked question.

Nodding Casey turned and followed her mother's instructions to find Derek lying on the floor under her desk plugging in cords to her computer's tower.

"Hey, Case," Derek said as she entered the room. "All checked in?"

"Yeah," she replied, sitting down on the bed. "How do you know that I want _this_ room?"

"Angela was here first and had already picked her room. That left four rooms to choose from. This one is the most symmetrical, largest window, and no weird stains or smells. And, it's at the end of the hall and only shares one wall with a roommate so the noise factor automatically goes down."

"Thanks," Casey replied with a grin.

Pulling himself out from under the desk, Derek looked up at her with a smirk. "I just know you."

"Yes, you do," she agreed. "Do you need to go check in at your place?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he asked, pulling her into his arms.

"No," she said with a grin as she looped her arms around his neck. "It's just that there's a welcoming BBQ over here tonight around six and I was hoping you would be coming as my date. But, if you're too busy…"

"Free food, Case," Derek interrupted with a smirk. "I will so be there."

"Then get out of here," Casey teased back.

"Awe man," Edwin groaned as he and the rest of the family filed into Casey's room. "They're at it again."

"At least this time they weren't kissing," Lizzie consoled.

"Alright," Nora interrupted. "Casey, what do you want us to do?"

"Derek's going to go check into his place," Casey started.

"George, you and I are going to help Derek," Nora quickly said.

George grinned and nodded while the three younger children turned white hot glares upon the parents. Neither George nor Nora seemed to be affected by that in the least.

Smirking, Derek reluctantly let go of Casey and told his siblings, "It won't be so bad. She'll only change her mind a couple hundred times before you_'_re done."

"Der-ek," Casey exclaimed, slapping his shoulder. "I won't do that!"

"Whatever you say, babe," he smirked before giving her a quick peck and jumping out of her line of fire.

After George, Nora, and Derek left, Casey turned to her siblings and said, "I'm not that bad."

None of them bothered to respond.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Derek to check in and for he and his parents to haul his things up to his room. Being as he was sharing a dorm room and didn't have a kitchen, like Casey, he automatically had less stuff and they were done that much quicker.

After making his bed and helping him put away his clothes, Derek was pretty much moved in so George and Nora decided to take off spend some time alone together before they had to pick up the younger kids and drive back to London. Derek was absolutely fine with this and was happily putting up his posters and pictures when his new roommate drug his stuff into the room.

"Hi, I'm Walter Stewart," the short, skinny guy said with a wide smile as he held out his hand.

Shaking the other guy's hand, Derek replied, "Derek Venturi."

"I'm on the badminton team," Walter happily informed his new roommate. "Are you into sports?"

"Hockey," Derek said, eyeing the squirrelly, little guy.

"The badminton team is co-ed."

"That's great. Very forward thinking of you guys."

"Thanks. Wow, she's pretty," Walter said, pointing the picture Annie took of Derek and Casey on the last day of the retreat. "Who's that?"

Smiling, Derek replied, "That's Casey McDonald. My girlfriend."

Turning his attention to the family photo Marti made sure her Smerek took with him, Walter said, "Your family must really like her. Or is that _her_ family and they really like _you_?"

"It's our family. That's her mom and little sister," Derek answered, pointing them out. Smirking, he added, "We're all just really close."

"That's cool!" Turning back to his luggage, Walter asked, "Do you like Reggae music?"

"Not particularly."

"Oh. Too bad, you're really missing out! I'm a Caribbean studies major, so I've got to like the stuff."

Derek leaned back on his bed and decide his new roommate reminded him of one of those perky little purse dogs with the way he was constantly moving and constantly talking. Luckily, Derek decided, he would be over at Casey's most of the time.

Deciding to wind the little dog up, Derek said, "I'm sure they listen to more than just Reggae music in the Caribbean."

"Oh," Walter answered, cocking his head to the side as he looked at Derek. "I hadn't thought of that. Oh, well."

"Why are you taking Caribbean studies?"

"Well, I'm hoping we get to visit there as part of the program. It gets so cold here that I thought that might be nice. And, I heard that a lot of the women down there wander around half naked so I thought that might make the classes more interesting."

Laughing, Derek replied, "I cannot wait until Casey meets you."

"Oh? Why? You think we'll have a lot in common?" Walter asked curiously.

Smirking, Derek said, "Let's not ruin the surprise. Okay?"

"Okay!"

* * *

Angela, Kate, Monica, and Charlotte, weren't exactly sure what happened. One minute, they were all moving in, unpacking, and getting themselves situated, and the next they were all sitting in the living room being led in a getting to know you exercise by Casey McDonald.

Smiling brightly while holding a set of index cards, Casey said, "The university_'_s website has some communication ideas that I thought it would be beneficial to us as first time roommates."

"Do you just want us to tell you our names and majors?" Monica asked in her completely lacking intonation voice. "Because I'm still deciding."

"On your name or on your major?" Angela drawled.

"Both," Monica seriously answered. "I'm think of changing my name. Right now it comes with some serious interpersonal drawbacks. I'm thinking of Jezebel."

"Didn't she have the prophets slaughtered in the Old Testament?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know. I just like the sound of it."

"Okay," Casey said, trying to get them all back on track. "I was actually thinking more along the lines of pet peeves, who keeps their food where, do we share dishes, and a schedule for the bathroom."

"I don't believe in schedules," Kate snottily informed the group. "Schedules hamper my qi. Just a warning, I will later feng shui our apartment."

"Touch my things and die," Angela warned. "I watch _CSI_ and I know how to hide the blood."

"What about my qi?" Kate demanded. "You cannot expect me to have my qi dampened because your room has not been arranged _correctly_."

Charlotte, trying to be a peacemaker, said, "But, wouldn't all of our qi's be considered when the apartment is feng shui-ed?"

"Unless you are interested in you qi, I don't see how it matters that it was only my qi that was being followed," Kate superiorly answered.

"Yeah, well, your _qi_ will be bleeding all over the carpet unless you worry about mine! Understand," Angela growled.

"I wouldn't get uptight if I were you," Monica interrupted. "Feng shui only works if it's done by someone who knows what they're doing."

"Who says I don't know what I'm doing?" Kate asked, clearly offended.

Snorting, Angela answered, "Isn't obvious. You're just some little, rich girl following the latest trend. Next week you'll probably be getting your biorhythms checked and will only do homework when your mental cycle is up or trying out urine therapy."

"What's that?" Monica asked, no one could tell if she was actually curious or not.

"It's when you drink your own urine and massaging your urine into your skin."

Scowling, Charlotte said, "Eww! You better stay away from me and my things once you start that!"

"I never said I was an uropath!" Kate screamed.

"But you seem to know what it is," Angela countered.

"So do you!"

"Yeah, but I'm not planning on doing some feng shui to the apartment!"

"Agg!" Kate bellowed, before crossing her arms and glaring at all her roommates with cold distain.

Casey was just trying to decide if she should continue with trying to get her roommates to answer the questions or not, when a knock on the door drew her attention. Tossing the note cards on a nearby table, Casey opened the door to find Derek standing on the other side.

"The dinner's about to start. Ready to go?"

"Let me grab my purse," Casey replied before hurrying off.

Feeling the tension coming from the living room, Derek gave the gathered women a tight smile, but made no effort to say anything. In his defense, however, none of them tried to say anything either.

Casey didn't take long, and much to his relief, they were out the door, leaving the remaining roommates to themselves.

Breaking the tense silence, Monica asked, "Who was that hotty?"

"Casey's brother," Angela filled in.

"I wonder if they're twins," Charlotte mused.

"They'd have to be. They're both freshmen this year," Kate said. "I heard Casey say something about that."

"And now you listen in on other people's conversations?" Angela yelled.

Grabbing Monica's wrist, Charlotte hauled her out of the line of fire, saying, "The welcome BBQ is starting. We don't want to miss that."

* * *

Walter opened the door to his and Derek's room with a smile. Seeing who was on the other side, his smile widened. "Hey Casey! It's good to see you! How are you doing? Are you enjoying your classes? I'm doing great! I can't believe the semester is half over, can you?"

"Fine, yes, and no, I can't," she answered, pushing her way past the perky young man. Casey knew from experience that if she didn't push her way in, Walter would hold her hostage in conversation for some time.

"Derek's not here yet. He must be running late."

"That's fine," Casey replied, collapsing onto Derek's bed. Grabbing his pillow, she cuddled it to her chest and breathed in his lingering scent.

Not noticing that Casey was weary and just wanted Derek, Walter dropped down into a chair and sat across from her, ready to do his duties as host and keep her entertained until Derek returned.

"So, guess what I just figured out? You and Derek are stepsiblings!"

"That's right," she agreed, closing her eyes.

"I never would have guessed. You look nothing alike!"

"That's because we are **not** related!"

"Oh, I know," Walter assured her. "But you don't have a sibling vibe either."

"Yeah, well, tell that to my roommate. She seems to have to hots for Derek."

"Do you want me to date her? Take her mind off Derek. I'm totally good with the ladies."

"Yeah," Derek said, entering the room to hear Walter's last comment. "Which is evident by the fact that you can't tell that Casey needs some quiet."

"Oh, I didn't know!" Walter hurried to apologize. "I'll just shut-up."

"Good man," Derek agreed as he crawled onto his bed and lifted Casey's head onto his lap. "Walter, textbooks," he added, holding out his hand.

Cuddling against him, Casey said, "Derek, say please."

Taking the book from Walter, he said, "Thank you," instead. Combing his fingers through her hair, Derek asked, "Want to talk about it?"

"Angela is still trying to kill Kate, Kate's trying to give her more motive, Charlotte's too nice for her own good—her peacemaker attempts only seem to make things worse, and Monica has a shrine to you in her room."

"Morticia?" Derek asked incredulously.

Ever since he'd met the pale faced, all black wearing, no emotion emitting female, Derek had been calling her Morticia after the wife on _The Addams Family_. Casey had tried to get him to stop, but as Monica didn't seem to mind—and there was the odd chance that she was proud of the moniker, Casey gave up reminding her boyfriend that he was being rude.

"Yes, Morticia," Casey agreed with a weary smile.

"But she calls me Dirk."

"I know. But, I've seen her room. There's an entire wall that's she's covered with newspaper articles and pictures all about you. Even from high school."

"That's creepy."

"Stalking is illegal," Walter added. "Maybe you should report her to the campus police."

"Maybe I should just tell her that I'm dating Casey."

"She might try to kill her," Walter worried.

"Dude…"

"What? That's always how it happens in the movies."

Derek considered this for much too long for Casey's peace of mind. Sitting up, she looked him in the eyes, saying, "Monica isn't going to kill me."

"How do you know?" Derek questioned. "Wally's right. That's always what happens in the movies."

"Because, despite her obsession with you, Monica's the normal one," Casey explained.

"That's really scary," Derek finally said.

"So…do you still want me to date her?" Walter asked.

* * *

"Dirk, are you sure you two aren't twins?" Monica asked after listening to Derek and Casey give her the history of them.

"Very sure," Derek replied, sheer willpower kept him from rolling his eyes. "You've seen us kiss."

Shrugging, she said, "My family kisses each other on the lips."

"Hopefully in a completely different way," Angela said from the kitchen where she was making a sandwich. For the time ever, Kate, who was getting a glass of water, nodded her head in agreement with Angela.

The rest of Casey's roommates had soon figured out their mistake not long after seeing Derek and Casey together—_and _after Charlotte got Casey to explain how the stepsibling thing might have created the mistake in the first place.

"Our birthdays are six months apart," Casey added for further proof.

"That is too far apart for twins. And too close together for Irish twins," Monica said, seeming to consider this information.

"We do not share blood relatives," Derek reiterated.

Shrugging, Monica said, "Oh, well. I never really understood what was going on during a hockey game anyway."

"That's it?" Derek asked, naturally suspicious.

"Yeah. Do you want the clippings? I'm going to take them down now."

"Nah. Case keeps track of all that for me."

"Okay," she agreed, getting up to leave the room.

"Hey, Morticia," Derek called after her, a playful smirk upon his face. "What do you think of badminton and Reggae music?"

"Der-ek!" Casey exclaimed, much to Derek's amusement.


	2. Shaving & Boy Troubles

_Sorry, I've been absent for a while. There will be more chapters posted; I'm just not sure how regular they will be in coming. Other, much more boring things have been stealing my time._

* * *

"Derek!" Angela screeched in surprise when Derek let himself into the apartment. "How did you get in here?" she added with a scowl. "And Casey isn't home yet."

"I know and Trisha, down at the welcome desk, gave me my own key," Derek replied as he waved the key card in the air before shoving it into his pocket. Plopping down on the couch, he added, "She said she got tired of calling up here to announce me."

Rolling her eyes, Angela snarked, "Waving you through to the elevators has nothing to do with giving you a key."

Smirking, Derek lounged back, his hands behind his head, and said, "What can I say? I've got a gift."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Angela went back to her textbook, determined to ignore her anal roommate's cocky step-brother/boyfriend. She lasted all of five seconds before dropping her book back into her lap and asked, "How do you do it?"

Lazily opening his eyes, Derek asked, "Do what?"

"Get people—women mainly—to do things for you. I mean," she floundered in her explanation. "It's obvious to anyone who meets you that you're completely and happily taken and yet…"

"I told you," Derek replied, smirk widening. "I have a gift. Sheer male magnetism."

"Pheromones?" Angela dryly asked.

Derek just shrugged.

"And Casey puts up with this? What? Did she threaten to castrate you if you ever took any of your groupies up on their offers?"

Looking sheepish and seeming to shrink into his seat, Derek muttered, "Worse. She'd cry."

Derek thought he was quiet enough that Angela couldn't hear him but she did and she promptly burst into loud, body shaking tears. Completely freaked out, Derek tried to become one with the couch—a valiant effort that completely failed.

Making things even more awkward, Charlotte heard the tears (Derek was sure Trish down at the welcome desk could hear the sobbing) and came rushing into the living room from the bathroom. Staring at her with some sort of horrified shock, Derek decided it could have been worse. Instead of wearing a bath sheet, Charlotte could have been naked.

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked, tossing her wet hair over her shoulder.

Looking up, Angela hysterically said, "You shouldn't wear only a towel around Derek."

Charlotte started to shrug when the towel started slipping lower. Stopping mid-movement, she tightened her grip on her towel and dismissed Angela's statement with, "Derek's dating Casey so he's practically like our brother."

Wiping the tears off her cheeks, Angela asked with some disbelief, "You walk around naked around _your brother_?"

"I don't have any brothers," Charlotte automatically replied. "What's up with you?"

Crying once again, but luckily not nearly as loud, Angela sobbed, "Derek's the perfect guy and I haven't had a date since high school!"

Nodding sagely, Charlotte said, "PMS. She'll be fine once we get some chocolate in her. Oh, you shave, right?"

"Daily," Derek answered as he stared resolutely at the ceiling. Eye aversion was the only thing that was going to help him stay out of trouble when Casey got home.

Adverting his eyes didn't help when Charlotte was suddenly standing above him and had her armpit thrust in his face.

"I get razor rash every time I shave. See?"

"Yeah," Derek quickly agreed.

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Standing way _too_ close," he muttered. "Maybe you're not using enough shaving cream or your blade is dull."

Derek decided shaving advice might actually get her to move away from him. Now he wasn't worried so much about getting in trouble with Casey as kind of creeped out by Charlotte's insistence at him studying her armpits.

"New razor and I use enough shaving cream to frost a cake," Charlotte assured him.

"To fast?"

"Way slow."

"To much pressure?"

"No. I know that's not it." Thrusting her red armpit closer to Derek she added, "Guys know all about shaving."

"Not armpits," Derek argued.

Contradicting Charlotte seemed to just set Angela off once more. "You're a jerk, too!" she howled.

Staring at the usually brash girl who was now sobbing hysterically, Derek quickly suggested, "Shaving against the grain."

"Huh?" Charlotte asked, finally taking a step back.

"Are you shaving up your arm or down?"

"Up. Towards my hand."

"Go towards your feet and you should be fine."

"Huh? I totally never would have guessed that that mattered." Pressing a quick kiss to Derek's forehead, Charlotte added, "I knew you would know!"

As Charlotte scampered back off to the bathroom to shave her other armpit correctly, Derek started to sigh in relief until he heard Angela start sniffling. Banging his head against the back of the couch, Derek groaned in disbelief at what he was about to say.

"Casey trained me."

"Huh?" Angela asked, semi-coherently with only an occasional sniffle.

"Casey trained me. I was a jerk to girls for a long time until Casey straightened me out."

"Okay?"

"I'm sure one day you'll find your idiot to train."

"Derek," she sobbed.

Unsure if they were onto happy tears, Derek quickly added, "Until then, you can practice on my roommate. He's on the badminton team and is a Caribbean studies major. His name's Walter—you can call him Wally. I can bring him over with me next time I'm here."

"Oh, Derek," Angela sobbed as she threw herself at him and hugged the panicking man tightly.

"I don't have to bring him over…" Derek trailed off as Angela only hugged him tighter.

* * *

Derek knew something was up by the way Casey kept glancing over at him, her eyes clearly filled with mirth. Frustrated, Derek pulled them to a stop and demanded, "What?"

A full out grin was on Casey's face as she said, "Wally's almost six inches shorter than Angela."

Narrowing his eyes, Derek suspiciously replied, "Okay?"

Losing control, Casey burst into laughter. "They look so silly together but I've never seen Angela so happy ... Mr. Matchmaker."

Derek just groaned and tugged on Casey's hand to get her walking again. She may have been moving, but Casey wasn't the least bit distracted.

"And Charlotte wanted me to thank you. She no longer has any problems shaving."

"You can stop."

"Cate was wondering if you would threaten her boyfriend with dismemberment if he doesn't give her a good birthday present this year. Evidently he thinks that having a birthday in December means he only has to get Cate one present and she doesn't agree."

"What?" Derek asked, surprised by this comment.

Grinning widely, Casey added, "Angela and Charlotte explained what a great big brother you are and Cate wants in. Morticia wanted your help in giving her car a tune-up until I told her you suck at mechanical things."

"Hey!"

"Sweetie, did you want to help Morticia with her car?" Casey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No…but I don't suck!"

Patting Derek's cheek condescendingly, Casey replied, "Of course not."

Realizing he had lost, Derek rolled his eyes and allowed Casey to drag him down the sidewalk. Just steps from their destination, however, Derek pulled them to a stop and said, "Case, promise me that if we ever have children, they won't be girls."

"What?!! Der-ek!!"

Sighing Derek dropped his hands on her shoulders and explained, "Edwin is so much easier to deal with than girls. I mean, I know stuff about facial shaving and girlfriend troubles…but shaving…other parts and boyfriends—"

Hearing his explanation, Casey burst into laughter.

"I never thought I'd hear _The _Derek Venturi admit to being scared."

"Hey! I'm not…"

Interrupting him, she added, "Sorry, baby. It's your sperm that decides gender. Have a talk with your boys if you don't want any daughters."

Derek just looked disgusted as his girlfriend collapsed against him laughing her head off.


	3. One Year Anniversery

"I haven't seen Derek in almost a week, Audrey," Casey hysterically told her friend.

"Have you tried stopping by his apartment?" Audrey distractedly asked. She had tried to tell Casey that she was trying to paint but Casey was much too upset to notice.

"Yes! Wally, his roommate, always says Derek's at work but I know he's not getting that many hours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!!! I even tried calling but James Barry, the photographer he's working for, but he's so flaky that when he goes to look for Derek he hangs up the phone. Unless…do you think Barry is doing that on purpose? What if Derek's the one who's hanging up the phone?"

Giving up on getting anything done with Casey freaking out, Audrey sat her brush and pallet aside before giving all over her attention to her frenzied friend.

Rubbing her temples in hoping to keep her headache at bay, Audrey sighed, "Casey, are you a moron?"

"What?!!!"

"Derek loves you," Audrey continued as if Casey hadn't spoken. "Whatever he's doing—acting like this isn't going to get you anywhere. You actually were okay though the whole Yvette thing and _now_ you're acting like an idiot because you haven't seen him in a few days?"

"I'm used to seeing Derek every day," Casey petulantly replied. "Besides, he can't be eating. He scavenges off the food in my apartment. Morticia is weirded out because her cookies are still the cabinet a week later."

"Someone _actually_ named their daughter _Morticia_?!"

"No," Casey said as she rolled her eyes. "It's Monica. Derek calls her Morticia and it's kind of stuck."

"And the nickname doesn't bother her?" Audrey asked, clearly surprised.

"She hasn't said anything."

"Okay, whatever. That doesn't matter. What matters is that you are about to lose your status as coolest girlfriend ever."

"I am?"

"_Casey_…"

"I am," Casey despondently agreed.

"Calm down. If you still haven't seen Derek by Monday, text him and ask him if he's starving because he hasn't been by to steal food lately."

"Worried about him but…"

"Not what he's doing," Audrey confirmed.

"Audrey, I don't know what I'd do without you," Casey sighed.

"Neither do I," her friend teased.

* * *

"Good job today, Derek," James Barry absently congratulated his employee. "You'll make a fine photographer someday."

"Thank you, sir," Derek proudly replied with an unusual amount of deference.

Looking down at the display Derek was showing him, Barry cocked his head to one side as if it would better help see the photos.

"You should call your girlfriend. I think she's been calling here—maybe."

"Yes, Barry," Derek answered with his typical smirk of amusement.

"You have been here a lot lately."

"It was worth it, though. I think Casey will like this. Thanks for letting me use the dark room for personal reasons."

"I like the one of sisters laughing. Black and white was a good choice. I'd sell that."

"Really?!"

Smirking himself, Barry turned to Derek and said, "If I took it."

"You only sell your own work."

"It makes sense. I shouldn't give my name to work that isn't mine."

"But, you think it's good enough to sell?"

"You're sounding needy, D—but, yeah. You have definite potential to be a great artist. I want a free copy of your first book."

"Autographed?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Still haven't heard from Dirk?" Monica/Morticia asked as she plopped down on the couch next to Casey.

"No," Casey replied, worrying her lip nervously. "How could you tell?"

"You're not doing homework and you're staring at your phone," Casey's roommate told her in that dry, monotone voice that seemed to be Monica's signature expression.

"I don't _always_ do homework," Casey argued.

"Not when you're surround by textbooks you don't."

"Oh."

"I'm sure he'll come by soon."

"Yeah?" Casey asked hopefully.

"Not really," Monica replied with a shrug. "But it seemed like the kind of thing I should say."

"Mon! What kind of person…"

Luckily for soon-to-be berated girl, there was a knock at the door. Not willing to sit still during another one of Casey's rants, Monica hopped up and answered the knock.

Seeing who was on the other side, Monica threw the door open and said, "Get in here. Quickly."

Derek quickly took advantage of the offer and slipped into the apartment lugging a large and awkward package.

Casey, seeing her boyfriend, popped up and rushed towards him. Stopping herself just before she reach Derek, Casey said, "Why didn't you use your key?"

"I'll leave you two alone," Monica informed them. As soon as she reached the hall, however, the two heard her yell, "Derek's finally shown up. We can stop tiptoeing around Casey."

Running a nervous hand through his shaggy hair, Derek said, "Sorry."

"It doesn't matter. I was just worried about you." With a small grin Casey added, "You usually come by to feed."

"Ha, ha, ha, Case," Derek snarked. "Come here, woman."

Keeping just out of his reach, Casey asked, "Why should I? You made me worry about you for no reason…"

"If you're going to be that way," Derek grumbled as he propped the package he was carrying against the wall. Then, before Casey realized what he was doing, Derek pulled Casey into his arms and a kiss that made up for all their time apart.

"Wow," she sighed, leaning against him. "Maybe you should go missing more often."

"Sorry, I haven't talked to you, Case. I've just been busy with school, work, and this," he said, pointing to the large package.

"What is that?"

"Your anniversary gift."

"What?! We already celebrated our anniversary."

"I know," Derek agreed, looking a little sheepish. "But we didn't really do anything with everything we had to do to get ready for college."

"So, what's this?" Casey asked, clearly ready to rip the wrapping off her Derek's gift.

"Open it," Derek demanded. He was just as excited as Casey to have the wrapping off.

Dropping to her knees, Casey make quick work of the covering. Sitting back on her feet, Casey gasped in surprise and didn't even notice the tears that started to streak down her cheeks.

Joining her on the floor, Derek draped an arm across Casey's shoulders and pulled her against him. His breath tickling her ear, he asked, "What do you think?"

Feeling the goose bumps rise, Casey almost forgot to reply. After taking in moment to drink in Derek's presence, she reached out and caressed the large frame. Inside was a collage of pictures Derek had taken of them, their family, and friends in a mixture of black and white and color photographs.

"Perfect."


	4. Christmas Expectations

_This chapter has a reference to _Either This Or_'s Chapter 23: _All I Want for Christmas is Dasey_ and Chapter 29: _If Anticipation is a Pleasure_. You don't have to reread them to understand what's going on but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone was wondering what Casey and Patty were talking about._

* * *

Knowing that her friend was a little high strung _and_ anal, Patty tried to keep her smirk hidden. She really did. She knew Casey wouldn't appreciate it at all, but Patty just found the younger woman's ranting way too funny.

"This isn't funny, Patty!" Casey half screeched, bringing the attention of several nearby shoppers onto them.

"Of course it isn't," Patty quickly agreed.

"Last year's presents were perfect. What if Derek is just as cute and romantic and I completely fail?"

Taking pity upon the poor girl, Patty draped an arm along Casey's shoulders and said, "Casey, Derek really isn't going to care what you get him."

"Yes! Yes, he is!"

"Fine," she replied, giving up. "Get him something hockey related."

"How could I top…"

"Playing with the Canadiens, I know." Sighing, after rolling her eyes, Patty added, "The thing is, Casey, if you keep trying to top gifts you're going to end up hating holidays and it will cause contention in your relationship with Derek. Trust me, I know."

"You and Erik had this problem?"

"Nooo…It was with the only guy I ever had a serious relationship with _besides_ Erik. I mean, I'm fine with it now," Patty quickly babbled. "If we had never broken up I never would have met Erik and we wouldn't have our boys, but you and Derek…"

Gulping at what her friend _wasn't_ saying, Casey nodded and replied, "So, just a gift? Something I think he would like? Like a new lens for his camera?"

"Sounds good," Patty replied with a sigh. "I think Derek would be very happy to get a new lens."

* * *

"So, D," Sam asked as he and his best friend battled it out against each other in _Babe Raider_. "Have you got Casey a Christmas gift yet?"

"I've decided to go gift card this year," Derek distractedly answered. "Case loves to shop and I don't know what all she owns."

"Dude," Ralph inserted as he waited to take on the winner. "You are so dead!"

"No, I'm not," Derek smirked as he gain another point on Sam.

"Yes, you are," Sam argued. "Casey's going to kill you."

"Gift cards show no thought," Ralph sagely added.

"You need something big or better than last year," Sam helpfully added.

"No," Derek adamantly declared. "I'm not spending the rest of my life playing some big or better game. Casey's going to take what I give her and like it!"

Ralph and Sam exchanged a look before Ralph asked, "Pizza?"

"And lots of deodorant," Sam agreed.

Giving his friends a confused look, Derek grunted, "What?"

"For when Casey kicks your ass to the curb," Ralph answered with a grin. "We all know you're going to be depressed and forget all about hygiene while you wallow."

Derek scowled at his so-called friends before slamming the game off and standing up. "Fine. Let's go shopping."

As Derek stormed up the stairs to get his wallet, Sam and Ralph exchanged amused looks before rolling their eyes.

* * *

"Clothes and jewelry. That's what I got her last year," Derek mused.

"The ballet for Valentines," Sam added.

"And that picture collage thing for your first anniversary," Ralph put in.

"Hey," Derek defended. "Case loved that collage. She made me hang it above her bed as soon as I gave it to her."

"Why are we listing your previous presents?" Sam asked.

"So, he doesn't repeat," Ralph replied. "How about underwear?"

"Are you stupid?" Derek barked.

"Hey, I always get underwear for Christmas!"

"From your girlfriend?"

"That might be weird," Ralph finally acknowledged.

"How about some sort of stuffed animal?" Sam asked, trying to get them back on track. Being in the mall this close to Christmas was **not** his idea of a good time.

"I don't know. What about a book?"

"Gotta be careful about that one, D," Ralph informed his friend. "I was watching _Danielle_, ya know – that busty talk show hostess, and there was some gift giving expert who said that books can say something about your relationship depending on the topic."

Groaning, Derek said, "It would be just my luck for Casey to think that's true. Damn it! This is getting ridiculous. She's getting the gift card."

"Dude…"

"Don't 'dude' me," Derek shouted, storming away.

"Dude," Ralph repeated with a shake of his head.

Sam just nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Smerek, are you sick?" Marti asked as she bounced onto her favorite family member's bed.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone, Smarti?" Derek asked not bothering to move from his dejected position.

"Promise," Marti quickly assured him.

"It's three days till Christmas and all I've got Casey is a gift card."

Plopping down next to her brother, Marti groaned. "Smerek," she reprimanded. "You're going to make Casey cry and not in the good way."

"I know," Derek groaned.

"Should I tell Dad we're going to need more tissues?"

"For me or for Casey?"

"You won't need tissues, Smerek. You'll need kneepads for all your groveling."

"Is that so?" Derek growled, rolling over to tickle his sister silly.

"Yes," Marti cried between her giggles.

* * *

Looking at the new Tilt-Shift Lens Casey bought him, Derek worried that kneepads wouldn't be enough when she saw his lame gift. Especially when his girl compared the gift she got him to the one he got her.

Casey, completely unaware of Derek's thoughts, carefully slit open the envelope he had just handed her. The rest of the family, mirroring Derek's inner monologue, sat warily on the edge of their seats just waiting to see Casey's reaction.

Pulling out the gift card to her favorite clothing store in Toronto, Casey tried to decide if she should burst into tears at the lack of thought or get incredibly angry. Putting off making a decision, Casey pulled out of the envelope the piece of paper that accompanied the gift card.

"Derek," she said in a voice that was scary in its lack of emotion. "This is your class schedule for next semester."

"I know," he replied, dropping a hand upon her shoulder.

Jerking away, Casey asked in a bone-chilling voice, "Why did you think this would be a good Christmas gift?"

The rest of the Venturi-McDonald clan exchange weary looks. Not a single one of them thought Derek would be able to pull himself out of this mess and life in their family would be even worse that before Derek and Casey went to the couple's retreat.

Risking her wrath, Derek scooted closer to his girlfriend and pointed out the highlighted class.

"Ballroom dancing," Casey read out loud.

"Ballroom dancing," Edwin repeat in disbelief.

Giving his little brother a quick look of disgust, Derek turned back to Casey. "I thought we could take it together." Seeing Casey's wide-eyed look of disbelief, Derek quickly added, "Please don't make me take that class alone."

"Oh, Der-ek!" Casey exclaimed as she threw her arms around Derek's neck, kissing him soundly, and knocking them both to the floor.

While the rest of the family went back to their own gifts, Marti giggled delightedly to herself as whispered, "Smerek did it!"


	5. Just Dreaming

_So, I had this incredibly weird dream and the Hall & Oats song _You Make My Dreams Come True_ was then stuck in my head. I don't own the song or the duo, but I do own the dream—only it __**didn't**__have the LWD group or Hall & Oats when I originally had it._

* * *

Casey was enjoying her shopping trip and was casually trying to decide between two blouses when the lights suddenly lowered. Looking around, Casey noticed that the store had melted away leaving her in this large blank, black space. In front of her, however, a band materialized, a large spot light lighting them up.

Staring in disbelief, Casey watched as Sam started dancing around their "stage" with his guitar. The disturbing part, however, wasn't that his blond hair was now black and curly and he had a large black mustache. It was the tight leather pants and 80's style t-shirt with the rolled up sleeves. Ralph, on the other hand, was in the back of the group wearing a scoop-neck, sleeveless, tie-dye t-shirt and grinning inanely as he drummed out the perky beat. Even more surprising was Sheldon taking Derek's usual place with the guitar and dancing around the stage with Sam in bright white shoes and a mustard and maroon jumpsuit.

Sure she was losing her mind, Casey closed her eyes for a moment. Opening them up, the guys were still there only Derek had joined them. Surprisingly, he was playing a recently added electric piano, wearing an 80's leisure suit, and had Sam's shaggy, blond hair. Derek's piano part didn't last long before he stopped and turned to Casey. With a large grin, he burst in song, while doing something that was clearly supposed to pass as dancing but had a lot more arm swinging and hip swaying that Derek usually employed.

"_What I want you've got_;_ And it might be hard to handle_;_ Like the flame that burns the candle_;_ The candle feeds the flame_."

Casey stared in disbelief as in the middle of the chorus, two random hockey players that she only knew by sight suddenly popped up and started cooing, "You–oo oooh." Of course Sam suddenly wiggling his shoulders at her and winking just made the experience even more surreal.

Just when she thought it couldn't get any weirder, Derek jumped out in front of the band and dropped down by her feet. Casey's eyes widened as Derek kept sing and dancing while giving a pedicure to her suddenly bare feet. He was surprisingly good at it for as little effort as he was putting into it.

Looking back up, Casey realized that the mall had reappeared but that no one seemed to notice or think anything was wrong with _Hall & Oats _impersonation band giving pedicures. In fact several people stood around clapping along and joining the random hockey players sing "You–oo oooh."

Derek put the last coat of nail polish on Casey's toenails before popping up and singing the last, "_Well, well, well you, you make my dreams come true_."

Casey started to clap when Saeran screamed, "Play it again, Sam!" Grinning brightly the guys started the song right over, Derek back at the piano.

This time, however, instead of singing, "_And wrap yourself around me_," Derek said, "Casey, wake-up. You're drooling all over my shirt."

Blinking, the mall and band disappeared, showing her her apartment and that Derek was right – She was drooling all over his shirt.

"This is going to stain," Derek groaned as he pulled the drooled upon front away from his body.

Whiping the drool from her cheek, Casey groaned. "Grow up, it will not."

"It's still gross," he complained.

Rolling her eyes, Casey ignored her boyfriend's grousing. Giving him a contemplative look, she asked, "Have you ever given anyone a pedicure?"

Looking horrified, even more so than seeing her drool on his favorite shirt, Derek cried, "No!"

"How…"

"No!" he quickly interrupted. "I do NOT and will NOT do THAT."

"Der-ek…"

"No! Stopping asking that!" he demanded.

Casey grinned. Getting him this riled up was fun. Putting on her best puppy dog pout, she scooted closer and pleaded, "I'd give you one."

Hopping off the couch like it was on fire, Derek barked, "Stop that! There is no way…Stop That!"

"Der-ek, baby," she giggled, chasing him around the room. "It will be fun!"

"Over my dead body," he proclaimed, trying to keep as far from his suddenly possessed girlfriend as possible.


	6. At Fault

_A/N: Just a warning, this is probably going to be the last story in any sort of chronological order. I have a lot of ideas, but I haven't being __**getting**__ them in order so I'm going to give up on trying to __**keep**__ them in order. Hopefully this way I'll be able to get updates out faster._

* * *

The sun was shining, birds were singing, Casey and Derek were having an extremely loud fight about who was at fault for the fight and blocking the entrance into the ladies' dorms—nothing the least bit out of the ordinary Monica decided as she took another bit of her apple. Despite this observation, or maybe because of it, Monica took a couple of steps back and tried to stay out of the couple's line of sight. Experience told her that if seen, they (Casey) would pull a person into the argument and try to make the innocent bystander choose sides. It was safer to just wait them out.

"Damn it, Casey!" Derek bellowed. "It is not my fault and I am not taking the responsibility for your pissy mood!"

"Der-ek!" Casey stared to argue in return.

"No," he interrupted. "I'm not doing this! I may be dating you, Casey McDonald, but I am _still_ Derek Venturi. I'm not going to become your whipping boy and beg for your forgiveness when _you_ were in the wrong!"

Looking taken aback and just a little panicked, Casey asked, "What are you trying to say? Are you—breaking up with me?"

"No," Derek replied with an eye roll. "I love you too much to dump you, but I'm not hanging around to listen to you harp. You know where to find me, Case. You can beg this time."

Casey stared in shock as Derek swung his hockey bag over his shoulder and stomped off without even giving her a kiss goodbye.

Figuring it was safe, Monica walked over to her roommate and asked around another bite of apple, "Is Dirk right this time?"

"I…ah…I don't…I don't know," Casey finally admitted.

"Whatcha going to do?"

This time Casey didn't say anything. She couldn't think of a response.

Realizing their conversation was over, Monica spared her frozen roommate one last glance before shrugging and heading inside the complex to her waiting homework.

It was sometime before Casey followed her example.

* * *

"Em, do you think he's…_right_?" Casey asked her best friend with some disbelief.

If it weren't for the free lunch, Casey knew by now that a little bribery was needed when pulling someone into her and Derek's arguments, Emily would have declined answering. Since she accepted the bribe, however…

"You did ask for his opinion," Emily reminded her friend. "It's not really fair to Derek that he gets in trouble just because you don't like it."

Pouting, Casey replied, "He was just tired of listening to me. He wasn't giving me a real answer."

Shrugging, Emily went back to her lunch. "If you say so."

"You think it was a real answer?"

"You're having a major problem with one of your professors. Derek's not going to just let that go. You _know_ that."

"Maybe he's right. Maybe I was just taking my bad mood out on him."

Seeing her friend's questioning look, Emily shook her head. "Oh, no. I'm not answering that," she said with a smile. "Lunch requires the answer I gave no more."

"Fine," Casey huffed. Turning back to her salad she said, "It just that's it's been a week and Derek still hasn't tried to contact me."

---

"Good."

"Good," Casey exclaimed, disbelief coloring her tone. "Audrey, how could that possibly be good?"

"Derek's sticking by his guns. He shouldn't let you walk all over him," Audrey firmly replied. She had learned by experience that even if she was doing something else while talking to Casey on the phone, she needed to keep her tone firm or Casey would completely dismiss what she said.

"I'm not trying to walk all over him! It's just that he should apologize…"

"For you being angry at his perfectly reasonable answer."

"It wasn't reasonable," Casey stubbornly sulked.

"Of course not," Audrey agreed. Casey could practically hear her friend roll her eyes over the phone lines. "You have a professor who is constantly belittling you and your work so reporting him or dropping the class is probably the _stupidest_ answer I've heard of."

"So…you think he's right?

---

"Casey," Nora sighed. "If you had asked me first, that's exactly what I would have told you to do."

"Really?"

"Yes," her mother confirmed.

"Why is it that when you say it it sounds so reasonable?"

"Because I'm your mother and you expect me to tell you what to do," Nora replied, a smile entering her voice. "But, you did ask Derek's advice. He gave it to you. You can't be mad about that."

"So, I guess I should apologize, huh?"

---

"Yes, Casey," Lizzie sighed in relief. "You should apologize to Derek. A little bribery might not hurt, but definitely an apology."

"Liz," Casey groaned. "How mad do you think he's going to be?"

"After a week and half of not making out with you…probably more antsy than angry."

"But knowing Derek, he'll drag it out to make me uncomfortable."

"Sorry, Casey," Lizzie replied, not sounding sorry at all. "But, you'll kind of deserve it."

* * *

Derek had been spending all his recent free time on the ice. Practicing by oneself wasn't quite the same as practicing with the team, but it was better than thinking about the fact that Casey still hadn't tried to contact him. Derek was starting to wonder if his best friends, his family, the hockey team, and even his roommate, Walter, were all really correct when they agreed that sticking to his guns was the right thing to do.

"I lodged a formal complaint today," Casey's voice said, interrupting his morose thoughts.

Turning Derek said nothing in favor of staring at his girlfriend.

Fidgeting uncomfortably under his stare, Casey continued. "Evidently, I wasn't the first student Dr. Lemont did this to and the school is taking disciplinary action. They let me drop his class without having a 'Withdrawal' on my transcript."

"Good," Derek finally answered.

"Oh, Der-ek," Casey cried, shuffling across the ice towards him. "I'm so sorry! I was being a bitch, just like you said."

Smiling, Derek gratefully pulled her into his arms. Holding her tight, he replied, "I didn't call you a bitch. I said you were being pissy."

Sniffling, Casey looked up into his eyes. As seriously as possible, she informed him, "I love you, Derek."

"I know you do," he replied with a familiar smirk. "Who wouldn't?"

"Der-ek!"

Laughing, he leaned down for a kiss, saying, "I love you, too."


	7. Bad, Bad Mood

_A/N: I probably should not listen to _Red Hot Chili Peppers_ while I'm writing. At least if I'm trying to write a romantic comedy—unfortunately, that was the musical mood I was in. We __**could**__ be lucky I wasn't in a _David Bowie_ mood, who knows what I would have come up with there. Anyway, I apologize in advance if after reading this you wonder what was wrong with me. ;D_

_Oh, the final lines I got from the March 4, 2009 _Garfield_ comic._

* * *

Derek Venturi was in a mood. Words used to describe how he was acting to everyone he met would probably be inappropriate for a mix audience—especially if his beloved Marti was among those listening. It was nothing in particular that brought this mood on, he just woke up one day hating the world.

His roommate, Walter, suggested that it was finals and a lack of Casey-ness—Casey did sequester herself during such a time so that she could study and receive maximum pointage on her tests. Derek, however, no matter how much he loved Casey, would rather not believe that his happiness was _completely_ wrapped up in her. Besides, he **had** been studying with Casey until his bad mood caused her to ban him from being anywhere closer than twenty feet from her until he could "grow up." The words he used _then_ where not appropriate for **any** age group.

If Derek Venturi sulked, that would be the best descriptor for what he was doing. As he didn't, the only thing to explain what he was doing as he sat on a bench in the middle of campus was to say he was moodily glaring at every person who passed him and wishing them all death. Either way, this was how Casey's roommate Monica—or as Derek affectionately called her, Morticia—found him some three days after the mood started.

Monica didn't say anything as she sat down on the bench nor did Derek's 'Glare o' Death' seem to affect her in any way as she calmly went about eating her pickle and Colby Jack cheese sandwich as if he wasn't even there.

"What do you want?" Derek barked as Monica started in on a second sandwich of the same type without saying a thing.

"To eat my lunch," she dryly replied. "How about you, Dirk? What do you want?"

Crossing his arms tightly against his chest and looking like he was pouting (if Derek Venturi did such a thing), Derek snarked, "To be left alone."

"Then stop talking to me," she simply replied, returning her attention back to her sandwich.

Now feeling ticked off that his bad mood was not affecting her _and_ she had no desire to make _his_ mood better, Derek demanded, "Why are you eating pickle and cheese sandwiches? They have to suck."

Giving a long suffering sigh, Monica handed over half of her sandwich with a quiet, "Try it."

Derek glared at the offering for sometime before snatching it out of her hand and taking a tentative bite. Chewing thoughtfully, he decided, "It's not _so _bad."

"The day's kind of nice too," she replied.

"No clouds," Derek agreed.

"Almost not bad."

"Yeah," he mumbled around another bite of the odd sandwich, his dark mood losing its hold just a little bit. "Almost not bad at all."


	8. In Love With a Moron

_A/N: Okay, so mentioning David Bowie made me want to listen to his music – not that you care, but I just thought I'd share. At any rate, Bowie's music and a comment by Frogster inspired this companion piece to chapter seven._

* * *

Casey was fairly certain she was in love with a moron. If she didn't know better, she would _swear_ it was Derek's "time of the month." Unable to take his mood any longer, Casey banished him from her presence. Mentally, she vowed to figure out what his problem was _after_ she finished finals. As this was her first semester of college, she wasn't letting anything—not even, or especially not, a moody boyfriend—stop her from getting the best grades possible.

Coming home one evening to Monica repeating her story about sharing lunch with Derek made Casey stop for a minute. Later that night when she tried to fall asleep, all Casey could think about was the fact that Monica seemed to have comforted _her boyfriend_ when she, Casey, **banished** him. Giving into her guilt, Casey decided to try—tomorrow—to once again cheer up Derek. Resolution in mind, Casey finally went to sleep.

Unfortunately, Casey found that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't _make _Derek cheer up. Giving up, and on the verge of tears, she pleaded, "Der-ek, what's _wrong_? What did I _do_?"

"**You**," he snarled, "did _nothing_."

No longer caring about holding back her tears, Casey descended into sobs.

Taking some pity on his girl, though still rather cranky, Derek snapped, "You can't **make** me happy, Casey. If I want to be in a bad mood, I will be."

Unused, in recent times, to Derek taking his bad mood out on her—though to be fair, Casey couldn't remember Derek ever being this cranky—and wanting to fix things, she snapped back, "Then why were you so nice to Monica?"

"I wasn't!"

"But you shared sandwiches!"

"I stole part of hers, Case," Derek growled. "No matter what she said, we weren't bonding!"

"So you don't prefer _Morticia's_ company to mine!" she shrilly demanded.

"Well, she does know how to **shut-up**!"

Hearing something of _her Derek_ in that response, Casey settled down with a small grin.

"What are you grinning at?" Derek demanded.

"Nothing," she coyly replied.

"Ha," he grunted in disbelief, going back to his non-sulking/pouting thing.

Even though Derek was still acting like a jerk, and would probably do so until after finals, and he _definitely _wouldn't apologize (because he was _allowed_ to be in a bad mood for no apparent reason – Casey wished she'd never said that to him during _her_ time of the month), and, of course, now she was a little ticked off herself, Casey decided this was kind of nice. She'd never had a boyfriend before where they could both just sit together, completely ticked off. She actually felt comfortable with Derek while being in a bad mood.

Glancing out the corner of her eye to see Derek now scowling at the text book in his lap, Casey decided that he was definitely a moron for acting like this. The difference, however, was that he was _her_ moron. And, maybe – just maybe, that was enough.


	9. Please Do Not Disturb

_A/N: I am trying to work on another chapter story, I just want it practically finished before I start posting it._

_Disclaimer: The idea for this story came from me listening to Sugarland's song _All I Want to Do_ on repeat (I'm a little OCD). It has an awesome beat—you can really dance to it._

* * *

Casey groaned as she heard the alarm go off. Keeping her eyes tightly shut she felt around her bedside table until she reached her annoying machine and tapped it off. A low chuckle and a muscled male arm slipping across her waist was enough to bring Casey out of her carefully hung onto drowsiness.

Warm breath tickled her check as Derek smugly whispered into her ear, "It looks like I've been an bad influence on you, Case. You were never a lazy-butt before me."

"Der-ek, shush. I think I can fall back asleep if you're quiet."

Trailing his fingers along her stomach, he replied, "But I thought you had to get up. You set your alarm."

Realizing her husband wouldn't leave her alone, regardless of how she felt about it, Casey slipped onto her back and looked up at Derek through half-lidded eyes.

"I don't wanna get up." Rubbing her foot along his calf, she added, "We work for ourselves, Derek. We don't answer to anyone."

"What about the shop? I have appointments…"

Seeing his smirk, Casey knew Derek didn't really care about those so-called appointments, he just wanted to see what she would say.

"I don't. I can just lay here and be lazy," she countered with a smirk of her own. Lacing her fingers through Derek's shaggy, brown hair (and making a mental note to get him an appointment for a haircut) Casey suggested, "But the phone's right next to your side of the bed. You can call your assistant and ask her to reschedule your appointments for later this week."

"Marti _hates_ to do that."

"Then tell her to earn extra cash by working for Edwin."

"And actually have to work?" Derek laughed.

"Your choice, babe. Me in our nice, big, comfy bed or your little sister and a bunch of strangers with squalling children?"

After pressing a quick kiss to Casey's lips, Derek grabbed the afore mentioned phone, saying, "I can always take the phone off the hook after I leave Smarti a message."

"Good choice," Casey replied with a laugh as she rolled back over to catch a few more winks.


	10. Emily and Derek Go Apartment Hunting

_A/N: Once again, info off University of Toronto's website. And I found the stores off of celebrate . ca __(though I've never been there, to the stores, myself) so they're real too._

* * *

"I can't believe you're going to ask Casey to marry you," Emily exclaimed with a bounce in her step as she walked along the sidewalk next to an unusually solemn Derek Venturi.

Not missing a step, Derek gave Emily a look of complete and utter disbelief. "Case and I've been together for two years now."

"Almost," Emily corrected, grabbing his arm. "Because you're proposing on your anniversary!"

Rolling his eyes, Derek nodded. "Right. Almost two years. I wouldn't think it would be that big of a surprise ."

"Derek," Emily sighed with exasperation. "It's just a saying. Don't let Casey's literalness rub off on you."

"I'm just saying…"

"Oh," she laughed slapping him lightly on the arm. In response, Derek gave her look suggesting he questioned her mental health, but Emily was too excited about their outing to notice.

"Now are we going to _Damiani Jewelers_ – I just love their commercials, or someplace else? _Richard Booth Fine Jewelry_ will make custom rings so that might be nice. Ooh, ooh, _Silverbridge Fine Jewellery_ has beautiful pieces but they won't tell you the price online so that might be out of your price range. _Anne Sportun Experimental Jewellery_…"

"Emily," Derek finally interrupted. "Are you and Ralphie…"

"No. NO!" she added a little firmer. "We're still nowhere near ready for that kind of commitment. Not. At. All." Grinning conspiratorially, Emily bumped Derek's shoulder as she added, "I just _knew_ this day was coming and _had_ to get ready for it."

"Then why…wait, you think you're helping me pick out a ring?" Derek stated, pulling Emily to a stop in the middle of the empty sidewalk.

"Of course. Why else would you need 'a woman's opinion?' "

Eyebrow raised, Derek asked, as if he hadn't heard Emily's question at all, "Do you know what Casey would do to me if she found out that I _hadn't _picked out her ring _myself_? Personally, I like all my body parts right where they are. I may have ruined her idea of romance over the years but I know she'd kill me over that one."

"You have her ring?" Emily asked, sure she had either mishearing or was missing something vital.

"Yep."

"Platinum?"

"Uh huh."

"Diamond?"

"Not a total idiot, Em," Derek answered with a roll of his eyes and started back down the street.

"What's it look like?"

"Solitaire. A roundish square cut. Some sort of scroll-like stuff on the side." Shrugging his shoulders, he added, man-like, "Shiny. Now are you going to help me or not?"

"Help you what?" Emily asked in a bit of a daze.

"Find an apartment for me and Case. You know how she gets. I figured that if I got an apartment all lined up for us for next semester that it might hurry the whole wedding planning thing along."

Watching Derek trot down the sidewalk, Emily muttered to herself, "Not a total idiot. Yeah right."

"Hurry up," he impatiently commanded.

* * *

The University of Toronto's Student Family Housing had four different floor plans. Derek was determined to see all four plans before making a decision. As not each floor plan had an available apartment to look at, Emily found herself being dragged into occupied apartments (the couples who lived there were really no match for a determined Derek Venturi) and told to give an opinion. There were times (few and far between for the most part) that Emily wondered why her best friend loved this moron, but standing in an occupied apartment at 8:30 on a Saturday morning was one of _those_ times.

---

_Bachelor (375 sq. ft.)_

"You can't live here," Emily instantly proclaimed.

"I know it's a mess," Derek ever-so tactfully replied in front of the pajama clad couple. "But think of it being anally clean."

"Derek," Emily softly growled while throwing the sleep tousled couple an apologetic glance. "I _meant_ Casey would take the name of the floor plan as a bad omen."

"Huh?"

"_Bachelor_ when you _just_ got married."

"Wait. Where's your fiancée?" the young husband confusedly asked.

"He's giving her an apartment _instead_ of a ring," Emily wryly answered.

"An apartment _and_ a ring," Derek corrected. "Besides the stupid name, what do you think?"

Looking around the room, Emily quickly noticed something besides the name that would tick Casey off.

"Derek, what do you think of their bed?"

"They just got up, Emily," Derek impatiently explained.

"Derek, there's _no_ living room. If someone came over, they would see your bed," she snapped back, pointing at the rumpled bed.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Case would freak."

"Duh."

"Do you need more coffee?" Derek asked, completely unaware of Emily's true feelings.

---

_Two Bedroom (592 sq. ft.)_

Thankfully, their second stop was occupant free. As the office wanted to deny all culpability in Derek's breaking into occupied places, they were alone with the keys to wander the empty space.

"This one does have a living/dining room," Derek offered. "And a smaller second room. It could be used as a guest room or an office."

"I bet it's for kids," Emily absently commented as she looked into the front closet.

Eyes widening, Derek repeated, "Kids?"

Seeing his reaction, Emily gave him a large grin and commenced teasing. "Yeah, you know, kids. Human children. Not baby goats."

"Thank you," he sarcastically replied. "I was just sure Case and I were going to get a pet goat."

Smirking Emily passed him as she went to check out the rest of the apartment.

Five minutes later, Derek once again asked, "What do you think?"

"I like it, but it might be more room than you both need and it's bound to be more expensive. Besides, it has a locker. What's up with that?"

"Good points. Case would freak and make comments on how she was living in a locker room _every_ time she saw it. Let's go check out the next apartment."

---

_One Bedroom (398 sq. ft.)_

While Derek wandered around the apartment and made note of the closet space, Emily stood rooted in the entryway trying to decide if breaking and entering was considered a felony or a misdemeanor in the eyes of the law. She did decide, however, that not actively wandering around was bound to look better in court and was determined not to move until Derek was done.

"Em, you can't tell me what you think if you don't move."

"Yes, yes I can," she countered, leaning from side to side. "If I tilt my head to the left, I can see the living/dining room (which they decorated beautifully, by the way). And if I lean to the right, I can see the bedroom."

"You can't see the closets," he quickly replied.

"I am too young to go to prison and room with some large, tattooed woman named Bertha," Emily replied, semi-hysterically.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Derek, you knocked. No one answered. You tried the doorknob. It was open and you _walked_ _in_!"

"That's what they get for not locking their doors in a city like Toronto," he coolly replied.

"Der-ek!" Shaking her head, Emily turned around and left the apartment declaring, "Wipe your fingerprints off before you leave."

"So, I'm on my own on this one?" he called after her, once he realized she wasn't coming back.

---

_Large One Bedroom (487 sq. ft.)_

"The balcony is smaller on this one than the other one bedroom," Derek informed Emily as they once again walked through and unoccupied, unleased apartment. "I don't think the bedroom is any bigger, I'd have to take some measurements, but the rest of the rooms are bigger."

"The closets?" Emily asked.

"Slightly smaller, but deeper."

"I don't think Casey would like shallow closets."

"This has much more counter space in the kitchen than the last apartment. Whoever lives there has to lean over the stove to _use_ the counter."

"I think you've found the floor plan," Emily answered. "I think Casey would like it here."

"Yeah," Derek absently responded.

"Derek? Is something wrong?"

"Hum? Oh, no. I'm fine. I was just trying to imagine what this will look like with Casey and me living here."

"Yeah?" Emily asked with a grin.

"I think I'll like it."

Draping an arm around his shoulders, Emily teased, "Derek Venturi the Softy. Who would have thought?"

Turning to look at his girlfriend's best friend, Derek growled, "Tell anyone and you'll wish for death."

Emily just grinned.

* * *

"Derek, where are we going?" Casey asked with a grin.

"Wait and see," he teased with a smile of his own.

Casey couldn't help but get caught up in his excitement, but she was about ready to burst with curiosity when Derek dragged her into an unfamiliar apartment complex followed by an unfamiliar apartment within the complex.

Stopping in the middle of the combined living/dining room, Derek stepped back with a grin, exclaiming, "Happy Anniversary, Case."

"Uh…" was the only thing she could think to say. "Derek…"

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Derek declared, "Come next semester, this place is ours."

"Huh?"

"I rented it. I've put down a deposit and paid first and last months' rent."

"What?!" the confusion was _not _lessening.

Seeming to realize that he's missed a part, Derek dropped a kiss on Casey's lips before sinking down on one knee in front of her.

"Casey McDonald, I love you. I mean, I have to, right? Two years is practically a lifetime when it comes to my dating history. And the thing is, with you, I'd like to make it a lifetime. So, will you marry me, Casey? Do you want to spend a lifetime together with me?"

The start was rocky, Casey decided. _And_, he was definitely going to hear about renting an apartment without her. Not to mention the practically insane amount of time he wanted to have a wedding put together. They'd have to get married at the end of December or January 3. Either way she would go crazy in the next three, almost four months.

But, looking down into his earnest eyes and hearing Derek declare that he wanted to spend a lifetime with her, not to mention the beautiful ring he was holding up towards her, well she could put off her anger until later.

Dropping to her knees, Casey threw her arms around Derek's neck and kissed him thoroughly. Tipping her head back, Casey grinned brightly, "I would love to spend a lifetime or two with you, Derek Venturi."

Whooping, Derek scooped Casey up into his arms and spun her around and around. Laughing, Casey held on tightly to her _fiancé _and decided she's never felt happier.


	11. Why Isn't Derek Dead Yet?

A/N: So I was randomly looking through _YouTube_ videos and came across Michael Seater interviewing David Henrie for the _Disney Channel Games on Family_. It cracked me up—and seemed so like Derek Venturi. So…I stole some lines from there and came up with this.

* * *

"Derek," Walter called with an odd and extremely annoying friendliness as he plopped down in front of his ex-now-married-roommate.

Derek just raised an eyebrow, giving Wally a dirty look.

"Right," Wally gulped. "You want me to get to the point."

"That would be nice," Derek drawled.

"See, I've been taking a sports broadcasting class."

"Color me impressed."

"You know," Wally snarked, fed up with his friend's (he was an usher at Derek's wedding for goodness sakes) attitude. "I'm surprised Casey keeps you around."

"It's a mystery to all," Derek tossed back, completely unconcerned nor impressed. "Your point?"

"Danny Simpson is trying to steal my place as color commentator."

"Is that the one who makes all those lame 'cold' jokes?"

"Yes," Wally agreed, glad to see there was another human being out there who thought Danny Simpson was an idiot.

"So, what do you want me to do about it?" Derek asked, still bored.

"I've got to travel back home for my cousin's wedding. If I don't find a replacement for the game Friday night Simpson will take it and then where will I be?"

Seeing where Wally was headed, Derek quickly replied, "I don't think I can help. I'm not taking the class myself and we have a game Saturday. I'll probably be practicing."

"Casey said you weren't. She said that the hockey team practice was six in the morning."

"Work…" Derek started to add.

"James Barry said you never work weekends because of games."

"You called my employer?" Derek was on the verge of bursting a blood vessel.

"Yeah. He's way cool. Oh, and I talked to my teacher and he said having the Varsity Blues' Hockey Star doing commentary on a curling game would be _major_ entertainment. Everyone, well everyone but _Simpson_ is hoping you'll do it."

Derek hated to admit it, but he was fairly easily swayed by flattery and mocking the curling team did sound like fun in and of itself. Giving into his baser instincts, Derek smirked. "When do I need to show up?"

"Oh, thank you!" Wally gushed. "You don't know what this means to me. Oh," he added as an afterthought, "if you run into or talk to Angela – I'm at my grandmother's funeral. My maternal grandmother's funeral."

"Wait, why are we lying?"

"My cousin's a girl," Wally admitted.

Derek was going to ask what that could possibly have anything to do with anything but then again Wally had been dating Angela off and on for almost two years now (Angela regularly dumped Wally for three to nine days every two to three months for reasons that made no sense to any reasonable human being). Derek decided to let Wally know best and agreed to this deception, not up to finding out more than he already knew about that dysfunctional relationship.

* * *

"So," Derek drawled with a smirk as he sat down in the chair across the dinky kitchen table his wife was studying upon. "What are you doing Saturday night?"

Stifling a grin, Casey looked up from her textbook the size of Derek's torso and replied, "I'm guessing you decided to help Wally out."

"I get to make fun of the _curling_ team," he reminded her.

"I'm going to get Emily and watch this from the student center."

Smirk widening, Derek leaned towards her asking (though completely sure of his answer), "You want everyone to know you're married to the witty color commenter, hum?"

Laughing, she shook her head. "I just want to see everyone's reactions when you get beat up by the curling team."

"You wound me, Case."

"No, but the curling team might."

* * *

"As we all know, Curling is a sport invented by bored Scotsmen with some extra brooms and a rock," Derek's voice said over a shot of the skip conferring with his team.

"Oh, look. Derek did some _actual_ research," Audrey mocked before tossing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "Sort of," she amended.

"I don't know why I invited you," Casey murmured, stealing some popcorn out of Audrey's bowl.

"Because Emily is busy with Ralph and you didn't know anyone else who would enjoy this travesty as much as I will."

"There is that."

Twenty minutes Casey and Audrey watched in a sort of horrified fascination as they listened to Derek cut off the play-by-play announcer to say, "And that's why I continue to contend that curlers are a bunch of sissy little girls, _not_ athletes. Carter just stopped in the middle of a play to announce that he _burned the stone_. What kind of athlete calls fouls on _himself_? That's what the refs are for."

"Well, actually, Derek, according to the rules of good sportsmen ship in curling…" the play-by-play announcer started to explain.

"Shove it, Bailey. We both know the only less manly sport out there than curling is bowling, and both sports involve idiots with bad taste in clothing. These dudes are wearing _stretchy_ pants."

Audrey, grinning in amusement as only Audrey could, said, "That's your husband up there, risking his life."

Sighing, Casey nodded and took another handful of popcorn. "I better stop by the store on my way home and pick up some bandages."

"And ice. Lots of ice."

"If only this weren't a championship game, they might have been able to ignore him."

"When later commentators praised them?"

"Well, yeah."

Shaking her head, Audrey countered, "Honey, with a mouth like your husband has on him, they would have to have some sort of group amnesia to ever forget what he said."

"I'm going to have to by McDonald once again, aren't I?"

"Venturi is an easily recognizable name, that's for sure."

* * *

Once the game was over Casey and Audrey stayed glued to their seats as they now watched as Derek "interviewed" the team's skip about the game his team just played.

"Well, you did get your team in as first of all the losers. That's pretty good."

"Yes, well…huh…umm…actually, we came in second," the skip replied in a sort of dazed disbelief.

"That's a positive way to look at it," Derek replied in a way that made it sound as if he pitied the poor idiot for actually thinking his team did well.

Casey groaned and hid her face in her hands as the skip just blinked at Derek, unsure of what to say. Audrey, however, just laughed and patted her friend's back. This was the most entertainment she'd seen in a long time.

* * *

Derek grinned as he bounced down on his side of the bed. Casey slowly lowered her book and looked her husband over.

"You seem to be all in one piece."

Smirking Derek propped his head on one hand. "Hockey finals are coming up. Coach threatened to kick anyone who took me out of the game out of school."

Rolling her eyes, Casey returned her attention back to her book. "You live a charmed life Venturi."

"It's pretty nice," he agreed.

Glancing back at him, Casey shook her head and sighed. "Derek just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"I know you're wiry, but you're not a large man."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Just promise me you won't piss off a burly biker gang or a giant, please. I like my husband all in one piece."

"Not without you as backup," Derek agreed with a grin.

Snorting, Casey smacked him across the shoulder with her book.

"Ow, Casey!" he whined. "Do you want to be kicked out of school with only a year of college left?"

Carefully keeping her smile hidden, Casey narrowed her eyes. "Don't threaten me, Venturi! I know where you sleep."

Derek didn't bother hiding his laughter.


	12. Accidents Happen

"Where is he?" Casey practically screamed as she rushed into the emergency room.

"Casey, calm down," Emily instructed as she came running in after her friend. She had been with Casey when she got the call about Derek.

The nurse, used to frantic family members, calmly replied, "Who are you looking for?"

"My husband," Casey quickly snapped. "Derek Venturi."

"Okay," the woman said with infuriating calm. "How do you spell Venturi?"

As Casey actually snorted with anger, frustration, and fear, Emily threw her arms around her friend and pulled her back. "V-e-n-t-u-r-i. He was in a car accident," Emily quickly answered for Casey.

"And, you're friends…" the nurse started to ask.

"He's my husband, you infuriating…"

"Casey," Emily interrupted. Turning to the nurse, she added, "What information can you give us?"

The annoying woman turned to her computer. Just before Casey was about to erupt once again, she said, "He's in surgery."

"Surgery?" Casey whimpered.

"I'll make sure his doctor knows you're here," the woman offered.

Leading the now deflated Casey to a chair, Emily mumbled, "It will be fine. Derek's crazy tough."

"But what if…"

"No what if's," Emily interrupted. "You're going to have to be brave—for Derek."

Chin wobbling, Casey sniffled and said, "Then I should start sobbing now so I don't upset Der-ek!"

Frantically searching through Casey's purse for some tissues, Emily tried muttering some soothing platitudes, but neither of her efforts did any good.

As both women were distracted, neither noticed the approaching person until a familiar voice called, "Casey!"

Looking up through tear filled eyes, Casey saw her husband hobbling his way towards her on a pair of aluminum crutches. Dashing her tears away, Casey jumped up and rushed to him before skidding to a careful stop next to him.

Grabbing his face in her hands, Casey exclaimed, "Der-ek, the nurse said you were in surgery."

Smirking, Derek readjusted the crutches under his arms and drawled, "Clearly, she was wrong. Unless the six stitches I got in my eyebrow count as surgery."

Stepping back to get a good look at him, Casey, asked, "What happened? I got a call from the hospital saying you were in a car wreck."

"I was," Derek confirmed. "Some idiot ran a red light and smashed into the front of my car. It's going to be in the shop for at least three weeks, by the way."

Seeing the lower half of his left leg in a cast, she concluded, "And that broke your leg."

"Ankle, and no."

Looking back up into her husband's face, Casey watched in disbelief as a tale-tale blush rose up his cheeks. "Derek?"

"Getting out of my car…I slipped on the wet grass and fell down the embankment."

Emily's loud laughter interrupted anything either Venturi might have then said, but it was just as well as Casey looked liked she was barely keeping her laughter back.

Seeing Derek's angry scowl directed her way, Emily's grin widened. "What? You survive a car accident just fine but then break a bone _after_ the accident. _Getting out of your car_. This is too funny," she added walking away. "I've got to text Ralph."

"Do and die," Derek yelled after her.

"Catch me first," she said, clearly unconcerned about his threat.

"What?" Casey asked, catching her husband's eyes. "It is _kindda_ funny."

Derek just narrowed his eyes and growled.

"Derek?"

"Hum?"

"If you're relatively fine, why didn't you call me?"

"When they were taking me into x-ray, I asked the nurse to call you before you accidently found out about the wreck some other way and panicked."

"Oh," she thoughtfully replied. "Next time, have make sure to have tell me that you're alright _before_ telling me you were in an accident."

"You hung up on her, didn't you?" he asked with a grin.

"Maybe."

"Now that," Derek crowed, "is funny."

"Keep it up, funny man, and you can limp your way home," Casey informed him with a stern glare.

Derek continued to laugh.


End file.
